FANS of the Yorkshire Shepherdess Amanda Owen have told how they only found out that her planned talk in Wrexham had been cancelled when they arrived at the venue.

Fiona Evans, a dairy farmer from Chirk, had been excited about getting the chance to hear Amanda Owen share the latest on her life with her family on a Yorkshire Dales farm.

She had booked tickets for herself, her husband, her mother and a friend for the event at William Aston Hall in Wrexham earlier in the year and her 85-year-old mother had even come up specially from her home to Kent to join her for the talk.

So they were disappointed when they turned up at the venue to see that it was closed, with no Yorkshire Shepherdess in sight.

Fiona said that around 20 other cars had turned up at the William Aston Hall, fully expecting to see Amanda Owen spend a night away from her beloved farm Ravenseat, sharing anecdotes about her family and farm life.

Locked doors

She said that she was unhappy that she had not been informed that the event had been cancelled.

Fiona said: "We were really excited about the event and were so looking forward to it. About 20 cars turned up to the William Aston Hall, with between two and four people in each one. No one had been informed that it wasn't happening.

"When we got there the lights were off and the doors were locked. There were a lot of farmers there who had rushed from milking cows and sorting sheep - a lot of disgruntled people.

"We just want our money back but we've had no response to my attempts to get in touch. The phone line rings once and then goes dead. My mum came up from Kent. She had travelled for five hours to come to see Amanda specifically.

"We spoke to a couple who had travelled from Staffordshire for the event and they had even booked a hotel to make a night of it. I bought the tickets in November for January of this year, and then it was postponed to September. It was still being advertised."

The Leader was unable to contact the event organisers Eventim or the company operating events out of the William Aston Hall - VMS Live (Wrexham) Ltd for a comment.